Were the Romulans intended as comic relief (for "DS9" as well and the one…
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Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man — 1 year ago(April 16, 2024 01:40 AM)
I don't think they were supposed to be comic relief but near peer competitors trying to take the Federation's spot as the supreme power in that part of the galaxy. They had been in some sort of period of decline and then announced their presence to the Enterprise and showed off their new War Bird. Naturally the Enterprise has to thwart all their ambitions. They could have made them a more menacing threat but they are also a sort of brother race to humans, passionate like us instead of hyperlogical like the Vulcans, so you don't want to make them too bad. That humans and Romulans are kindred spirits is hinted at by the Romulan commander in the episode where they are chasing artifacts planted by the original humanoid species.
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RobofNJ — 1 year ago(April 16, 2024 01:58 AM)
New? I always thought the only update was their cloaking device. I always thought neither the Cardassians or Romulans updated their ships, which is the only reason the D had a slight advantage over Macet's Galor in that episode. They won the battle against them by virtue of their newest ship (which was a new ship [the D that is] at the time) not because they were less advanced (it was the opposite, the Cardassians were absolutely feared, and as "Journey's End" showed, Picard trembled in fear in front of Evec, literally begging him not to start a war over the Native incident, fear he didn't even show the Romulans; even Jellico was a last resort, as the only one who could handle the Cardassians in a matter preparing for war, the other Federation generals and admirals seemed to be downright terrified of them)
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RobofNJ — 1 year ago(April 16, 2024 02:20 AM)
I always thought that was a change in the ship style to keep the show contemporary (as the Romulan ships of the 60s reflect our understanding of space, being rather outdated compared to now, I don't really like the 60s show that much) rather than their abilities and capabilities though.
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RobofNJ — 1 year ago(April 21, 2024 01:52 AM)
And I know when one small inocucuous comment leads to bigger dumber comments. It's a case of "That's where it starts," if you know what mean.
And the notion is that the Cardassians have not updated their ships. To be fair, the Romulan ships at least in "TNG" era were about 50 or 60 years old in design just like the Cardassians. At least in "TNG" era neither ship updated their designs. It could just be that the Federation had not been familiar with the Romulans that long. But I hoenstly got the impression that the update was about their cloaking.
The only thing I can accept about the Cardassians losing the battle in "The Wounded" was that the D was the newest ship relatively speaking. So it was not that they were behind (everything about their behavior and attitudes show a race that's more advanced). It's that the Federation beat them to it. In the Old World, countries that were advanced always advanced slightly before or after a major power. The Federation was afraid of the Cardassians with good reason. They feared their technology, their prowess. And people are so dumb when the canon shows them as more advanced than the major 3. -
RobofNJ — 1 year ago(April 21, 2024 02:15 AM)
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man said...
Don't worry about it.
They were menacing in that episode. I think the writers were going for a big bad, similar to the Ferengi, who could unite the major 3. And it was more successful. Everything about them showed the two at the brink of war.
Contrary to the moronic rantings,
TNG
showed them as a threat. This is a case of not jumping to conclusions due to certain things, however, as some said, one battle isn't enough to determine superiority, and Picard never said Macet was at a serious disadvantage. The idiot make it seem that Picard would have easily destroyed them. It's plot armor to be honest. But a Cardassian ship got damanged by the Klingons in "WOTW" and it withstood the damage for a good 20 minutes before the Defiant got to the coordinates, and another good 15 minutes before it finally vaporized. It wasn't like they destroyed the ship that easily. I would imagine that's what would have happened if Picard did destroy Macet's ship.